Arturo J. González
Arturo is one of the nation’s top trial lawyers. One federal judge said his “trial advocacy skills were superior,” while a federal magistrate described his trial skills as “phenomenal.” He is sought after by America’s largest companies, in part because of his ability to communicate with increasingly diverse juries.
Arturo has had great success representing both plaintiffs and defendants. He may be the only lawyer in the country to obtain defense victories for clients in multiple billion dollar matters and also four jury verdicts in excess of $10 million, including verdicts of $39.3 and $13.8 million in trade secrets cases.
Arturo is a Fellow with the American College of Trial Lawyers and the International Academy of Trial Lawyers and an associate with the American Board of Trial Advocates.
He has served as MoFo’s lead trial counsel in a number of significant matters, including:
- Waymo v. Uber: Won a favorable settlement after four days of jury trial. Defeated motion for preliminary injunction that sought to bar Uber’s autonomous vehicle program.
- Phoenix Technologies Ltd. v. VMWare, Inc.: Won a defense verdict in copyrights case seeking over $100 million and future royalties.
- Phaedrus v. Kaiser Permanente: Won a defense verdict for Kaiser in a $125 million trade secrets misappropriation and breach of contract case.
- Hansen Medical v. Luna Innovations Inc.: Won a $36.3 million verdict in a trial involving medical robotics. Jury found that defendant willfully misappropriated trade secrets and breached two contracts.
Arturo has obtained a number of record jury verdicts, including $12.5 million for the unlawful shooting of a farmworker, $1.45 million for unlawful strip searches, and $63 million in a wrongful death suit.
Arturo has earned a wealth of recognition from his peers. In 2021, Arturo joined the California Lawyers Association’s Trial Attorney Hall of Fame, an award bestowed upon attorneys who have excelled as trial lawyers and whose careers exemplify the highest values and professional attainment. He was also honored in 2019, by the American Bar Association for his dedication to providing free legal services to the poor. He was named to Legal 500’s Trial Lawyers Hall of Fame in 2017, has nine consecutive selections to the Daily Journal’s Top 100 Lawyers in California, is recommended by Chambers USA as a top commercial litigator, and has been selected annually since 2010, as one of the country’s top 30 trial lawyers by Legal 500, United States. In 2009, The National Law Journal recognized him as one of the top 10 trial lawyers in the country in their “Winning” Special Report. Earlier in his career, he was selected by National Law Journal as one of the nation’s top 40 lawyers under the age of 40 and one of the “50 Most Influential Minority Lawyers in America.”
Arturo served as the 2010 President of the Bar Association of San Francisco.
Experience
Waymo v. Uber
Won a favorable settlement after four days of jury trial. Defeated motion for preliminary injunction that sought to bar Uber’s autonomous vehicle program.
Phoenix Technologies Ltd. v. VMWare, Inc.
Represented VMware in its successful defense against a $110 million claim from Phoenix Technologies alleging that VMware infringed copyrights by breaching a licensing agreement for Phoenix's "BIOS" software in VMware's server virtualization products. The team prevailed on all counts in the trial in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, when the jury handed down a unanimous verdict just a few hours after the close of the two-week-long trial.
Phaedrus v. Kaiser Permanente
Won a defense verdict for Kaiser in a $125 million misappropriation and breach of contract brought case brought by a medical imaging software company.
Hansen Medical v. Luna Innovations Inc.
Won a $36.3 million verdict in a trial involving medical robotics. Jury found that defendant willfully misappropriated trade secrets and breached two contracts.
John Russo Industrial Sheetmetal, Inc. v. Los Angeles World Airports Authority
Won a defense verdict for LAX in a breach of contract action by a contractor claiming millions of dollars in lost profits resulting from the cancelled sale of fire trucks to three of the busiest U.S. airports: Atlanta and San Francisco settled, and our client LAX paid nothing.
Technology Integrated Group v. FusionStorm
Won a $10.8 million verdict in a trial involving computer resellers. Jury found that defendants violated their duty of care to their former employer and willfully misappropriated trade secrets. The jury also found that the new employer aided those acts and awarded punitive damages against plaintiff’s former manager, the new employer, and three of its officers.
Silvaco v. Cypress Semiconductor Corp.
Won a $1 billion dispute in a trade secrets case alleging stolen source code. The trial court bifurcated statute of limitations, and made a legal ruling adverse to Cypress. The Court of Appeal stayed the trial and reversed. The trial court then dismissed the case on a reconsideration of summary judgment, finding that Cypress never acquired the allegedly stolen source code.
The Guidiville Rancheria of California et al., v. The City of Richmond
Secured the dismissal of a lawsuit filed by the Guidiville Rancheria of California and Upstream Point Molate alleging breach of contract and other claims after the City of Richmond declined to proceed with a casino project for the former Point Molate Navy Fuel Depot because of environmental concerns. After the deal fell through, Upstream and the Guidiville Rancheria sued the city for more than $750 million in costs and lost profits.
Oakland Raiders v. Oakland-Alameda Cty. Coliseum Corp.
Won a defense verdict in a case alleging fraud and breach of contract on behalf of an Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum director after a three-month jury trial.
Araceli Rodriguez v. Lonnie Swartz
Won a major victory in the Ninth Circuit in the case that will likely end up before the Supreme Court. The Ninth Circuit affirmed the District Court’s order denying qualified immunity to a border patrol agent who, while standing on American soil, shot and killed our client’s teenage son who was in Mexican. If upheld, our client would be the first person to proceed to trial in a case where the border patrol killed a foreign citizen on foreign soil.
Rankings
California Commercial, Intellectual Property Litigation Star
Benchmark Litigation 2024-2025
USA Commercial, Intellectual Property Top 100 Lawyer
Benchmark Litigation 2024-2025
Recommended for General Commercial Disputes
Legal 500 US (2024)
Ranked for Dispute Resolution: Leading Trial Lawyers
Legal 500 US (2022-2024)
Recommended for Trade Secrets
Legal 500 US 2023-2024
California’s Top 100 leading Lawyers
Recognized for Bet-the Company Litigation
Recognized for Commercial Litigation
Recognized for Criminal Defense: White Collar
Recognized for Litigation: Intellectual Property
Band 2 for Litigation: General Commercial
MVP of the year: Trials
Recommended for Patent Litigation
Top 30 Trial Lawyer
Band 2 for Litigation: General Commercial (California)
Band 2 for Litigation: Trial Lawyers
Trial Attorney Hall of Fame
IP Star
Managing IP, 2023-2024